Respiratory complications are one of the most common and immediate problems facing premature infants. These complications range from a mild oxygen need to an immense oxygen dependency that can result in the scarring of lung tissue. Respiratory complications not only prolong the time spent in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), but can also hinder lung and brain development. Therapies designed to reduce respiratory needs and increase the ability for premature infants to breathe independently are vital for this fragile population. The isolettes and cribs in the NICU severely limit the newborn's continued experience with imposed motion, acceleration, and changing orientation to gravitational loads. In utero, the mother typically provides the fetus with a near continuous stream of vestibular stimulation daily through routine motor activities such as walking, driving a car, sitting, sleeping, rolling over, postural changes, breathing, etc. These forms of vestibular stimulation are hypothesized to influence the brain stem reticular formation with indirect neural pathways that may influence postural motor control, state control, and respiratory patterning.
Thus, it would be beneficial to develop a device that can systematically introduce physiologically salient vestibular stimulation to a newborn that is otherwise faced with the prospect of laying stationary for extended periods of time in a crib or isolette.